WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is launching an investigation over federal agents cutting razor wire installed by the state of Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a letter first obtained by Spectrum News. The inquiry is the latest move in an ongoing oversight effort by Republican leaders deeply critical of the Biden administration's handling of the southern border.
In the letter sent Monday to Homeland Sec. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Rep. Tom McClintock of California, wrote “The Biden Administration, rather than deterring illegal aliens attempting to cross the southwest border, chose to cut and remove Concertina wire and fencing installed by state and local governments in Eagle Pass, Texas.”
Jordan and McClintock, who is chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, are requesting documents and communications from Homeland Security officials related to the influx of migration in mid-September, as well as Border Patrol agents interfering with the concertina wire, which has gashed and snagged migrants as they attempted to cross the U.S. from Mexico.
“The United States is experiencing the worst illegal immigration crisis in our nation’s history,” Jordan and McClinton wrote in the letter.
The Republicans zeroed in on the surge of crossings in September, when Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants who crossed the southern border unlawfully. It was the highest number since December of last year.
"In response to high rates of encounters across the southwest border in September, CBP surged resources and personnel. We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” said Troy A. Miller, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner, in a statement when the data was released.
This comes as a legal battle over the miles of concertina wire is underway. Last week, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses issued a temporary restraining order telling federal agents to not interfere with the razor wire in Eagle Pass, unless the wire needed to be cut to “provide emergency medical aid” to migrants.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration last month seeking to keep the wire intact and arguing that cutting it was undermining the state’s border security effort.
In response to Texas’ lawsuit, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement “Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk.”
Immigration advocates have pushed back on the state’s hardline deterrence tactics and say the razor wiring has hurt migrants.
A state trooper in July raised concerns to a superior and wrote these strategies crossed a line and were “inhumane.” The trooper also described situations where young migrants were getting caught in the wire in the river, including a 19-year-old pregnant woman and a 15-year-old who broke his leg trying to navigate around the wire.
Jordan and McClintock are requesting information by the end of the month. Spectrum News reached out to Homeland Security for a comment on the committee’s latest inquiry.